Surgical or obstetrical sheet.



PATENTED APR. 5, 1904. W. W. TOWNSEND. SURGICAL 0R OBSTETRIGAL SHEET.

' APPLICATIOH FILED MAY 11. 1903.

N0 MODEL.

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UNiTEn STATES Patented April 5, 1904.

PATENT OEEICE.

WVILLIAM W. TOTVNSEND, OF RUTLAND, VERMONT, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, OF THREE-FOURTHS TO WILLIAM N. KNOWVLTON, OF MELROSE, MASSACHUSETTS.

SURGICAL OR OBSTETRICAL SHEET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 756,544, dated April 5, 1904. Application filed May 11,1902. Serial No. 156,568. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known thatI, WILLIAM W. TOWNSEND, of Rutland, county of Rutland, State of Vermont, have invented an Improvement in Surgical or Obstetrical Sheets, of which the following description, in connection with theaccompanying drawings, is a specification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to waterproof sheets which are used for protecting the bedding in surgical operations, obstetrics, irrigations, and cases where there is a considerable flow of liquid which should be conducted into a suitable receptacle.

The object of my invention is to produce a waterproof sheet adapted for the above-named purposes, in which means are provided for enabling the sheet to be readily bent into different forms, so as to conform to the shape of the body and to provide a trough for conducting the liquid into a suitable receptacle, and which will cause the sheet to retain such forms. I accomplish this object by providing the sheet with pockets in which flexible non elastic strips of metal are placed, which are capable of supporting the sheet in the form in which they are bent.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view, and Fig. 2 a side elevation, of my device in a position of use. Fig. 3 is a partial longitudinal section thereof on an enlarged scale. Fig. 4 is a cross-section, on an enlarged scale, illustratinga portion of one of the ribs.

As illustrated in the drawings, the sheet a is of waterproof material and is preferably made of considerably greater length than Width and tapering so that it is materially Wider at one end than the other, as shown in dotted outlines in Fig. 1. A drawing-string Z2 is arranged in the sheet at its widest end, and one side of the sheet is provided at suitable intervals with a series of transverselyextending pockets 0, (Z, and c; in each of which a metal rod or wire f is located. These rods are preferably of aluminium, lead composition, or other soft, flexible, but non-elastic metal,

which is capable of being bent into different shapes and of retaining the shape into which it is bent. I preferably provide one of these rod-containing pockets near each end of the sheet and one near the middle thereof, as shown.

In using my device for the purposes above mentioned the larger end of the sheet is bent about a convenient portion of the body, as the waist or a limb, so that the sheet will lie beneath the part to be treated or operated upon. The ends of the drawing-string are then tied to hold the sheet from displacement. The rods f are then bent upward at their ends, thereby holding up the edges of the sheet, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, so as to form a trough. The small end of the sheet is directed over the side of the bed, and a suitable receptacle is arranged beneath it, so that the liquid which runs onto the sheet will be' Slits are formed in the end of each pocket near one end, so that the rods may be removed and rolled into a small compass and the sheet may be folded in a small bundle.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A waterproof sheet for the purpose described, having a series of flexible, non-elastic metal rods connected thereto and extending across the same to support the edge portion of said sheet in various positions, substantially as described.

2. A waterproof sheet for the purpose described, having one end Wider than the other,-

versely thereof, said supports acting to hold the longer edge portions of said sheet in various positions to form a trough-shaped receptacle, substantially as and for the purpose described. 7

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two sub- 20 scribing witnesses.

WILLIAM W. TOWNSEND.

Witnesses: THos. (J. ROBBINS, WAYNE BAILEY. 

